Daleks for dictionary
- Publication: Daily Mail
- Date: 1973-12-22
- Author:
- Page: 6
- Language: English
DR. WHO celebrated its 10th anniversary on BBC this month. And one of the men behind the scenes who was feeling particularly jovial was scriptwriter Terry Nation. creator of the Daleks. Those peculiar looking electronic enemies of humanity. always screeching, "exterminate," were themselves exterminated at the end of the first series 10 years ago.
But they proved so popular and demand was so great for their return that they had to be written back into the following series.
"I'm as surprised and bewildered as everyone else at their success," said Mr Nation, a tall, good looking Welsh-man.
"I thought they would last six or seven episodes at the most. Neither the BBC nor I knew what we were getting into with Dr. Who."
Fortunately, he has no shortage of ideas for the Daleks. He doesn't write all the Dr. Who scripts, only those featuring his creation.
"I have the copywright on them, you see. Occasionally I allow another writer to do a Dalek script if I'm busy working on something else. But I still enjoy writing them myself. There is so much scope for the imagination."
Looking at Dr. Who's future, Mr Nation thinks the series has quite a long life span yet. "But the Daleks might become a series of their own. I think it's a distinct possibility," he prophesied.
The evil little creatures have already brought him a small fortune.
"I don't know how much, and if I did I wouldn't tell you," he laughed. "But I have to admit I'll always be grateful to them."
Six months after the series began he and his wife, Kate, bought a large 16th century house in Kent with 18 rooms and its own secret passages. underground chapel and well at the bottom of the garden But he was making a reasonably successful living before Dr. Who was born.
"I had done a few science fiction plays for ITV, which is probably why I was asked to write for Dr. Who."
Since then he has been busy on a variety of different series including The Saint, The Persuaders and The Baron.
"I'm a working writer and I like to work under pressure," he said.
His first job after leaving school in Cardiff was as travelling salesman. "But I must have been the world's worst. The type all the worst jokes are written about." But one thing he was good at was telling Jokes. He had ambitions to become a comedian and left for London and had several disastrous auditions.
No one laughed, But he was told some of his gags were very good That started him thinking about comedy writing Spike Milligan gave him his first break by asking him to do a script for the Goon Show Some of his material was used, which led to him to being invited to write his own series on radio.
"I get a bit tired sometimes when people think I haven't done anything else except Dr. Who But I don't really mind.
"What I'd really like is for the word Dalek to find its way into the Oxford dictionary That's my great ambition."
How did he derive the word Dalek?
"I used to tell people I took the letters from an encyclopedia binding, but it's not true. was writing and the name just appeared on my typewriter from nowhere," he said.
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- APA 6th ed.: (1973-12-22). Daleks for dictionary. Daily Mail p. 6.
- MLA 7th ed.: "Daleks for dictionary." Daily Mail [add city] 1973-12-22, 6. Print.
- Chicago 15th ed.: "Daleks for dictionary." Daily Mail, edition, sec., 1973-12-22
- Turabian: "Daleks for dictionary." Daily Mail, 1973-12-22, section, 6 edition.
- Wikipedia (this article): <ref>{{cite news| title=Daleks for dictionary | url=http://cuttingsarchive.org/index.php/Daleks_for_dictionary | work=Daily Mail | pages=6 | date=1973-12-22 | via=Doctor Who Cuttings Archive | accessdate=18 April 2025 }}</ref>
- Wikipedia (this page): <ref>{{cite web | title=Daleks for dictionary | url=http://cuttingsarchive.org/index.php/Daleks_for_dictionary | work=Doctor Who Cuttings Archive | accessdate=18 April 2025}}</ref>
